short for celluloid (sense 2b), celluloid (sense 2c)
celluloid in British English
(ˈsɛljʊˌlɔɪd)
noun
1.
a flammable thermoplastic material consisting of cellulose nitrate mixed with a plasticizer, usually camphor: used in sheets, rods, and tubes for making a wide range of articles
2.
a.
a cellulose derivative used for coating film
b.
one of the transparent sheets on which the constituent drawings of an animated film are prepared
c.
a transparent sheet used as an overlay in artwork
d.
cinema film
cel in American English
(sel)
noun
a transparent celluloid sheet on which a character, scene, etc., is drawn or painted and which constitutes one frame in the filming of an animated cartoon: may be overlapped for change of background or foreground
Also: cell
Word origin
[by shortening of celluloid]
Examples of 'cel' in a sentence
cel
I'm not convinced by the cel-shaded graphics.
The Sun (2014)
The look is straight from the anime cartoon, with gorgeous cel-shaded graphics.
The Sun (2013)
It also features some beautiful cel-shaded artwork.
The Sun (2017)
It's clunky, difficult to control and the cel-shaded aesthetic just doesn't work for me.
The Sun (2013)
There is the nearly universal adoption of computer animation as a replacement for traditional paper-and-cel and puppetry techniques, for example.
The Times Literary Supplement (2016)
It is an endless runner with a gorgeous cel-shaded comic book art style, with a natty story built in.
The Sun (2014)
Bite-sized puzzles wrapped up in beautiful cel-shaded cartoons have kept punters coming back for more.